


One Year Later

by Mellissalynn



Category: X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, X-Men References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-04-06 02:29:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4204590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mellissalynn/pseuds/Mellissalynn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story was written based on the characters X-23 (Laura Kinney) and Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde / Pridoli) of the X-men.  It’s set in an alternate universe, one where Kitty was never invited to join the X-men.  The two young women have been living together, with Kitty managing Laura’s career as an underground fighter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Year Later

One Year Later  
By MellissaLynn

Introduction: this story was written based on the characters X-23 (Laura Kinney) and Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde / Pridoli) of the X-men. It’s set in an alternate universe, one where Kitty was never invited to join the X-men. The two young women have been living together, with Kitty managing Laura’s career as an underground fighter. This version of Laura has the same claws as Wolverine, no toe claw. Also, Kitty's phasing abilities work slightly differently than the comics.

+++

The wind was howling through the trees around the apartment as the two women stepped out of the cab. They were a study in contrasts; the one dressed very adult and businesslike, yet sensual and womanly at the same time. The other was dressed far more casually in a set of sweats and trainers, her hair flying freeing the breeze.  
“Go on in, Laura,” the girl in the suit said to the other. “I’ve got the fare.”  
“Right,” Laura Kinney drawled. “Just hurry up and pay the man, Kitty. You’re shivering.” The fare was settled quickly and the two let themselves into the building.  
“It was a good fight tonight,” Katherine ‘Kitty’ Pryde said as they rode the elevator to their floor. She tapped her laptop case. “The gate was pretty good, too. Rent, phone, food, and a brake job for the car, all covered tonight.”  
Laura was quiet. “You OK?” Kitty asked with concern.  
“I’m fine,” Laura said. She gave Kitty a small smile, one not many were graced with. “What about you? You seemed to be having quite a discussion with the manager.”  
“Oh, he was trying to tell me that the fight was too short and that he was going to have to cut some of the gate,” Kitty replied. “That ended about the time I told him that you wouldn’t take very kindly to that.” She grinned. “He got a little pale when I told him how much you might not like that.”  
“I see.” Laura sighed. “What would you have done if he’d not backed down?”  
“Waited a little while and then ghosted in to get the rest of our cut,” Kitty said.  
Laura looked her best friend over. “And what if you’d been caught in the act?”  
“And who could do that?” Kitty said cockily. “I am the breeze, untouchable unless I want to be touched!”  
“Really?” Faster than the eye could move, Laura had Kitty in a headlock, not enough to hurt her, but enough to prove a point. After a moment, she let Kitty go. “You’re untouchable…as long as you know you’re going to be touched. Remember that.”  
“I know, Laura,” Kitty said quietly. Her earlier cockiness was gone. “But I don’t think that man is nearly as fast as you.”  
“Maybe not, in fact, almost certainly not. But what about his two little friends, Smith & Wesson? He was packing, Kitty. And as fast as you are at phasing, it’s possible that you’d phase with a bullet wound. And then what could happen is that you could pass out from the wound while phased, and I wouldn’t be able to get to you, and you would die.” Laura took Kitty by the shoulders and looked at her intently. “I…would have a problem with that, Katherine.”  
Kitty knew what it took for Laura to say even that much. She also saw the concern and fear for her in her roommate and protector’s eyes. “All right,” Kitty said softly. “I won’t do anything like that. I promise.”  
Laura saw and smelled the truth in the words and relaxed. “All right."  
The elevator stopped at the third floor and Laura, as always, stepped out first. Her nose twitched a second as her eyes scanned the area, then, satisfied that there was nothing worse in the air than the lingering smell of anchovy pizza from the apartment kitty-corner to theirs, she let Kitty out. The entrance to their apartment was the same, Laura going in first, taking an instant to make sure it was safe, and then letting Kitty enter.  
As always, Kitty seemed amused by the precautions. And, as always, Laura was content to let Kitty be amused. Ever since the two had come together in that alleyway, Laura had been happy to let Kitty have her little bubble of innocence, secure in the knowledge that Laura was there. Occasionally, Laura had to deflate Kitty a little for her own safety, as had happened in the elevator, but generally, the two had a good living and working arrangement.  
Kitty hung her coat up, then sat down at her desk and plugged in her laptop. As it booted, she asked, “Want some tea? I’m going to get myself some.”  
Laura had just finished checking the bedroom and bathroom, and was now allowing herself to get comfortable. She nodded a silent assent.  
As she listened to Kitty rummage around in the kitchen, Laura reflected on the fight. The opponent she’d been matched with was good, very good. Although Laura was sure he wasn’t a mutant or enhanced somehow, he was a prime specimen of the male homo sapien. Moreover, the man had had some training. Out of respect for his abilities, Laura kept her own actions in the same realm, and the resulting fight, she’d thought, had gone spectacularly.  
Kitty came out with two cups of tea. She placed one near her seat at the computer, then brought Laura the other. “Tea, hot, with just a light touch of lemon and honey,” she said.  
“Thank you,” Laura said as she sipped her tea. It was a little hotter than she might have liked, but that condition would remedy itself very shortly. She watched Kitty walk into the bathroom. She moved suddenly, silent as a mouse, and retrieved a package from behind the bookcase. She set it next to Kitty’s laptop and was settled back into her chair, sipping her now-perfect tea, when Kitty returned.  
Kitty, meanwhile, had used her trip to the restroom for more than a chance to freshen up a little. She retrieved a package of her own and then returned to the restroom. She quickly removed the makeup from her face, revealing the teenager underneath the adult image, then put her hair up in a ponytail and went back out to the living room, her hands behind her back.  
Laura watched with a small smile as Kitty came to a dead stop upon seeing the package. “What’s this?” Kitty asked.  
“A ticking time bomb,” Laura said dryly. “Someone left it for you, and I figured you could defuse it for fun.” She rolled her eyes.  
“You remembered,” Kitty said softly. “I … wasn’t sure you would.”  
The humor left Laura’s face. “Of course I remembered. Today is the one year anniversary of our friendship.” She cocked an eyebrow at Kitty’s hidden hands.  
Kitty grinned and handed Laura the package. “I remembered, too.”  
Laura felt a sudden tightness in her throat. “Thank you,” she said very softly. “Do you know that this is the first present I’ve ever been given in my life?”  
Kitty’s heart ached for her friend. She reached for Laura’s hand. “I promise, it won’t be the last.” The two of them sat there a moment, then Kitty said, “So…open it already!”  
Laura opened the package very carefully, setting the wrapping aside almost reverently. Inside the package was a book. “’The Art of the Warrior’,” she read aloud, “by Sin Tzui.” She looked at Kitty. “Why did you give me this?”  
“Because…” Kitty said, then stopped and started again. “Because I thought you would like it. This book is about the art of being a warrior. It’s also about the honor of a warrior, and when and how a warrior should act.” She looked at Laura very seriously. “You’ve always been afraid that you’re an animal, a savage. I read this book before I gave it to you. This book is you, Laura. When I read it, I saw you shining in every page. I hope that, when you read it, that you see yourself the way I see you.”  
Laura didn’t know what to say. The tightness in her throat was almost choking her. “Thank you, Kitty,” she said quietly around the tightness.  
Kitty knew Laura well enough to know she needed to lighten things up. “So! What did I get?” she asked. She put a silly schoolgirl look on her face that she knew would make Laura smile.  
“Why don’t you open it and find out?”  
Kitty, unlike Laura, ravaged the wrappings with the gusto of a person who’d been given presents many, many times. “Season tickets!” she shrieked. “First base season tickets to Wrigley Field!” Her expression got a little more serious. “Laura, can we afford these? I know what this cost.”  
Laura shrugged the cost off. In her mind, it had been of no concern. The expression on Kitty’s face let Laura know she’d chosen well.  
Kitty suddenly sat down next to Laura and hugged her hard. It took Laura a second to realize that Kitty was crying. “What’s the matter?” She quickly scanned Kitty’s body to see if she was hurt.  
“I just…I don’t know what I’d have done without you, Laura,” Kitty sobbed. “That day…that horrible day…and … and then you were there, and everything was all right. And it’s been that way ever since.”  
Laura was totally out of her depth. She awkwardly put her arms around Kitty and held her. There were words she wanted to say, to tell Kitty that Laura had been just as lost. Laura had felt she had no purpose, no reason for being, until the day she met and rescued Kitty. She was shocked to her core when Kitty had given her trust and friendship unconditionally to Laura, without knowing a thing about the person she was literally placing her life in the hands of. Even later, when Laura had begun to open up about herself a bit, Kitty had stayed with her. It was something that Laura had never known, and valued more than she could ever put into words. She showed it in her actions, in the absolute dedication she applied to watching out for the younger girl. Kitty was her first and best friend.  
Kitty pulled away just enough so that Laura could see her face. She could see what Laura wasn’t able to say, at least not yet. Kitty wiped the tears from her cheeks and smiled. “It’s OK, Laura. You’re my best friend too.” she said. “No matter what, through thick and thin. It’s the two of us against the world.” She rested her head back down on Laura’s shoulder.  
The two of them sat that way while. After a short time, Laura felt Kitty’s breathing soften and realized the younger girl was asleep. She smiled and stayed that way, thinking and remembering….

+++ 

“Hey, chica!” Laura had heard as she passed the small dead-end alley. She also caught the indrawn breath that followed it. “We got such plans for you, chica!” The next sound Laura caught was that of a butterfly knife being unsheathed.  
“Leave me alone!” a terrified girl’s voice had screamed, and Laura found herself heading into the alley. She found a teenage brunette girl, dressed WAY too nicely for the neighborhood she was in, surrounded by five boys, all at least three years older than her. One of the boys was the wielder of the butterfly knife she’d heard.  
“Oh, but chica, we can’t do that…then what would we do for fun?” the knife-wielder said. “We have fun with you… and then we find out who your daddy is, and we see how much he’s willing to pay for you!”  
Laura had heard enough. She said in a voice that was almost a snarl, “Get. Away. From. Her.”  
The gang turned around. “Ooohh! Another chica! And she wants to play with us!”  
Laura saw, behind the gang, the other girl suddenly become see-through. Then she faded into the wall behind her. That almost was enough to startle her into inattention…almost.  
“Play?” she murmured. “Sure. Let’s play.” She motioned for the leader to attack. He obliged, leading with the knife. She relieved him of it, not yet revealing her claws. As such, he was left with his arm, hand, and all of his digits, although the force Laura used did ensure that he wouldn’t be playing piano anytime soon. She took the knife by the blade in one hand and the hilt in the other, snapping it in two. The other gang members saw the blood welling around her fingers as she did so. Only Laura saw that the skin was cut deep enough to reveal small flashes of metal.  
“Get her!” the leader yelled backing off and cradling his broken hand. One of the others snapped a chain in her direction. Laura dodged it with contemptuous ease, signaling the boy to try it again. He did so with a little more finesse, actually using it as a weapon on the second swing, and Laura actually had to move to get out of its path. She scented one of the other boys right behind her as she moved, and turned to face him as he tried to wrap her up in a bear hug.  
He was startled to find her face in his as she head-butted him hard. After that, his expression didn’t really matter, as he dropped like a stone to the ground. At the same time, Laura reached behind her and caught the chain that was again coming at her. She’d become tired of the chain, and returned it to its owner with more force than he was ready for. Three down, two to go.  
As she went for the last two, she was startled to see the girl walk back out through the wall. She was carrying what appeared to be a Louisville Slugger baseball bat. Laura, intrigued, hung back a moment to see what the girl would do. She didn’t have to wait long, as the girl solidified behind one of the boys. She swung the bat, a little girlishly, but with enough force and aim to connect solidly with the boy’s back. He groaned and went down. The last boy turned and snarled, aiming a pistol at the ghost-girl. Laura smelled and saw the gun, and went on the offensive again. The claws on her left hand extended and rendered the gun a piece of useless metal, as the ones on her right plunged toward the boy’s outstretched arm.  
At the last moment, she retracted her claws and merely hit his arm solidly with a karate chop. She heard the bone in his upper arm snap as her adamantium-laced palm connected. He screamed a girlishly high-pitched scream and fell to the ground. She kicked him once in the jaw, hard enough to take his consciousness and stop his screaming.  
Laura’s gaze went to the other girl. “Are you all right?”  
“N-no,” the other girl stammered. “M-my father kicked me out of my house today, a-and this is what I was wearing, and I don’t have any other clothes now, and I have nowhere to go, and they took my purse so now I have no money…“ The girl went on this way for a moment or two.  
Laura’s senses told her this girl was absolutely terrified and clueless. Despite herself, she felt a sense of responsibility for the girl, if only because Laura had rescued her. She started to go toward the other girl, and suddenly felt a little weak. It occurred to her that she hadn’t eaten in a day or two, and that the healing her hand was doing was probably weakening her a bit.  
The other girl suddenly darted forward and picked something up out of a pile. “My purse!” she said. She quickly looked in it, and a look of relief passed over her face. “It’s all here…” She looked at Laura and said, “Are you OK? You look like you’re going to pass out.”  
“I’m fine,” Laura said automatically, even as she knew she wasn’t. Her vision was starting to cloud a bit.  
“Come on,” the girl said. “Let’s go someplace we can sit down and maybe get a bite to eat.” She retrieved her baseball bat and held out her hand. “I’m Kitty.”  
“You…you’d eat with me, after what you just saw?”  
“Ummm…sure,” Kitty said, sounding confused. “Why wouldn’t I? You helped me when you didn’t have to, and you sure look like you need to eat.”  
The innocent friendliness in the girl’s voice threw Laura for an absolute loop. No one had ever treated her this way. The girl’s scent said that she was being truthful, she wanted to help Laura. “All right…” Laura said as she took Kitty’s hand. “I’m Laura Kinney.”  
“Kitty…Pryde,” the other girl said, and for the first time, Laura caught a faint whiff of a lie. She decided to let it go for now, and stood up slowly. Kitty said, “There’s a sandwich shop a block over. Can you make it that far?”  
“Let’s go,” Laura said. She’d make it on sheer willpower if she had to…

+++

Laura’s reminiscence was interrupted by Kitty starting to shake a bit in her sleep. She looked on helplessly as tears started streaming down the younger girl’s cheeks in her sleep. Laura felt an anger settle into her bones, one that she could do nothing about. She knew exactly what Kitty was dreaming about…

+++

Katherine Pridoli, daughter and pride of Don Carmello Pridoli, had awakened early, her lower abdomen in pain. “I hope this isn’t this bad EVERY month,” she thought to herself as she went into her bathroom to attend to her new feminine duties. She was over her initial scare when she’d found the blood on her sheets, and was starting to regard the situation as normal. “At least next month, I’ll be prepared.”  
A knock at her door startled her a bit. “Miss Katherine?” she heard the maid, Deanna, call. “Your breakfast is ready.”  
Kitty realized she was starving. “Thanks, Deanna!” she called back. “I’ll be out in a minute!” She moved as fast as she could to take care of herself, then quickly exited the restroom. She found Deanna still there.  
“Are you all right, Miss Katherine? Your father asked me to look in on you and make sure that you weren’t having any … problems.” Deanna’s speech was strictly formal, but Kitty saw the slight eye roll that Deanna saved for when a man tried to involve himself in what she considered women’s affairs.  
Kitty grinned. “You may tell my father that I’m fine, thank you.” She moved a little closer and said to the maid in a whisper, “Thanks for your help, Deanna. This would have been a lot worse without you.” Kitty then shocked the maid by hugging her fiercely.  
Deanna blushed a bit. “You’re welcome, Miss-“ Kitty’s hand over her mouth stopped her.  
“Please…call me Kitty, not ‘Miss Katherine’. That’s too formal.”  
Deanna was in a quandary. This girl’s father paid her wages and dictated that she was to be polite and formal with family members. Now, here was his daughter, saying exactly the opposite. Deanna compromised. “You’re welcome…Miss Kitty,” she said with a smile.  
“Miss Kitty…I like that,” Kitty smiled. “Well, I’m starving, so I think I’ll go to breakfast now. Is my father there?”  
“Yes, miss.” The maid quickly looked the girl over for any concerns; seeing none, she smiled. “Enjoy your breakfast.”  
Kitty ran down the stairs and to the kitchen. As she was coming through the door, she tripped and fell. She saw the corner of the table coming up to meet her, hard. She braced for the pain, but it never came.  
She found herself sitting on the floor under the table, uncertain of what had happened. Her father was looking down at her. His lips were moving, but she couldn’t hear a thing. ‘Omigod, did I lose my hearing when I hit the table?’ she thought wildly. She started to stand up-  
And her hand went through the floor. Not as in she broke the floor, but as in her hand passed through it, as if it were an illusion. Or as if she were…  
Her mind jumped on the first thought that came into it. ‘I’m a ghost,’ she thought. ‘I’m dead, I died when I hit the table, and now I’m a ghost.’ She looked around, like she remembered from that Patrick Swayze movie, for her body, but didn’t see it anywhere.  
‘Wait…if I’m dead, Daddy wouldn’t be able to see me to talk to me. So that can’t be right.’ She slowly tried to stand up; it was a struggle to not fall through the floor again, but after a few seconds, she managed it. Her father was still looking at her and moved as she stood up.  
Kitty suddenly realized she needed to breathe. As soon as the need hit her, she suddenly felt the floor under her and heard her father’s voice. He was screaming, “-DAMN FREAK OUT OF MY HOUSE!”  
“Daddy?” she said as she reached out to touch him. “What’s wrong?”  
“DON’T YOU TOUCH ME, YOU MUTANT FREAK!” he screamed at her. “YOU ARE NO DAUGHTER OF MINE!” He reached over to one of the many men that were always around the household and pulled out a gun. He aimed it at her. “DIE!”  
Kitty couldn’t believe her father was doing this, but instinctively she ducked. She was too slow, but apparently whatever had happened to her wasn’t finished with her yet, because suddenly she couldn’t hear anything again and the bullet passed through her without harm. Her father fired several times, with no effect other than to put holes in the wall behind Kitty’s insubstantial form.  
The need for air caught her again, and she solidified. Her father went for another gun as she stood there, tears rolling down her cheeks. “DADDY, WHAT DID I DO WRONG? WHY ARE YOU SO MAD AT ME?”  
“I SAID DON’T CALL ME THAT, FREAK!” He turned and lunged for her as she stood rooted to the spot. His hands closed around her throat and he began to squeeze. “MY DAUGHTER IS DEAD, YOU MONSTER! YOU TOOK HER FROM ME! I’ll KILL-”  
Again the survival instinct kicked in, and Kitty ghosted out. Her father fell through her insubstantial form, still screaming, and crashed to the floor. Kitty knew that she had to run before she solidified again, and took off for her room. She ran through the closed door and found Deanna waiting for her. The maid spoke, but it took Kitty a second to solidify. “What is going on?” Deanna asked.  
“I-I don’t know!” Kitty sobbed. “Daddy is screaming at me and calling me names!” The sheer incomprehensibility of what was happening to her hit her and she couldn’t say anymore. Giant tears washed down her cheeks, along with the remnants of her destroyed childhood.  
“Here,” Deanna said urgently. She thrust a jacket and Kitty’s purse at her. “Go, child, now!” Kitty had been sheltered from what Don Pridoli was, but Deanna was only staff, and the staff knew more than Don Pridoli would like. The maid knew what would happen if Don Pridoli was in a killing rage against his daughter.  
Kitty heard her father’s voice as he thundered up the stairs. She quickly grabbed the items that Deanna was holding out to her and started for the door. “No!” Deanna exclaimed. “Go out the window, Kitty, for your life, go out the window!”  
Kitty went to the open window and looked out it. She was three stories above the ground; she knew she couldn’t survive the fall. Deanna saw her hesitate and gave her a hard shove just as the door began to open. Kitty started to scream as she fell, and once again instinctively ghosted. She never heard the shot that took Deanna’s life as she fell to the ground safely.  
Kitty ran across the large yard and through the concrete wall that bordered the Pridoli estate. She ran until the need for oxygen took her again, then solidified and kept running, completely clueless as to her surroundings. Her purse banged against her hip as she ran.  
She didn’t realize she’d entered the dead-end alley until she almost plowed a wall. She started to turn around when she heard footsteps behind her. She tried to ghost, but she was too terrified to concentrate, and the change wouldn’t come. She dropped her purse as she heard a male voice say, “Hey, chica!”  
Five young men were closing in on her. Their eyes made it quite obvious what they had in mind for her. “Hey, chica!” one of the men said. Kitty sucked in a deep breath to scream. “We got such plans for you, chica!” Kitty’s eyes were drawn to the knife that seemingly appeared out of nowhere in his hand.  
“Leave me alone!” she screamed.  
“Oh, but chica, we can’t do that…then what would we do for fun?” the knife-wielder said. “We have fun with you… and then we find out who your daddy is, and we see how much he’s willing to pay for you!”  
Kitty started to tell them that her daddy wouldn’t pay anything for her, but she never got the chance. She saw a girl who looked a little older than her, wearing ragged and filthy clothing, standing behind the men. Kitty instinctively knew that the girl was dangerous, but not to her.  
“Get. Away. From. Her.” It wasn’t so much spoken as growled, Kitty thought. The boys turned away from her for an instant to see who had spoken.  
“Ooohh! Another chica! And she wants to play with us!” The knife wielder was smiling a nasty smile. Kitty gathered her courage up and ghosted. She slipped through a wall and found herself in a storeroom of some sort. She solidified and looked around a moment. She wasn’t going to leave the other girl out there alone with those monsters, even if she was terrified herself.  
She saw, in a corner, what looked like a piece of wood. As she grabbed it, she felt the grip of a baseball bat. She gripped it tighter and ghosted again, going back outside.  
She was shocked to see that three of the men were already down. The other girl’s hand was dripping blood. There were still two of the men left; one of them was just in front of Kitty. She moved into a batter’s stance, just as she’d seen the players at Wrigley Field do, and swung with everything she had. She felt a meaty ‘thunk’, and the man went down, grasping at his back in pain.  
She saw the other man turn toward her, and for the second time that day, she was looking at the business end of a gun. Before it could be fired, though, she saw the other girl suddenly sprout what looked like silver claws from her hands. One hand sliced the gun to ribbons; the other retracted the claws at the last instant and hit the man’s arm. He screamed in agony as Kitty saw the bones shatter. As he fell to the ground, the girl kicked him in the jaw, and he fell, unconscious.  
“Are you all right?” the girl asked in a voice that sounded like it didn’t get a lot of use...

+++

Laura felt Kitty relax and slumber more deeply. She smiled to herself, then picked her manager up and went into the bedroom. She arranged Kitty so that she’d be comfortable and pulled the covers up. Laura then went back into the living room and retrieved her book. She very carefully set it on her nightstand, then got into her bed. She lay there in the darkness for a moment, listening to the sounds of the city, then drifted off to sleep. 

End

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fanfiction based on a RPG I was running with my best friend Rachel. The story stands on its own, I think, without knowing much about the game.


End file.
